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APA Group swindled in ¥1.3 billion land deal in Akasaka

Yasunori Miyata
Yasunori Miyata (TV Asahi)

TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested nine persons for allegedly swindling hotel operator APA Group out of more than 1 billion yen over a land deal in Minato Ward four years ago, reports TBS News (Nov. 9).

In August of 2013, Hiroyuki Kameno, a 53-year-old scrivener living in Meguro Ward, and Yasunori Miyata, 55, allegedly worked with six accomplices in presenting forged documents to obtain ownership of a 400-square-meter parcel of land in the Akasaka area to the Tokyo Legal Affairs Bureau Minato Branch Office.

According to police, the forged documents, including a certification of a registered seal, were used to transfer ownership of the plot from a company based in Chuo Ward to one of the suspects, who posed as an inheritor.

The suspects, who have been accused of fraud, have declined to comment on the allegations.

According to TBS, the suspects shopped the property to multiple real estate companies while posing as its rightful owner. The property was eventually sold to the APA Group for 1.26 billion yen. However, the company has not been able to take ownership of the property.

Police suspect that Kameno and their associates are likely a group of fraudulent land brokers that impersonate victims and sell their land without permission. Police arrested Miyata and Kameno in a separate case in February.